Chapter 3 Unforgettable Memories

  It's been two months and three days since Xiao Tianjian came to this world. As soon as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but recall the life of these past few days.

  The first month was a time he could only describe as unbearable, and he didn't even dare to think about how he had survived that period. In his desperation, he had put aside all his dignity, just to survive on a mouthful of food, and even knelt down by the roadside to beg like those starving people, just hoping to get something to eat. However, apart from being met with cold stares, he was also subjected to verbal abuse, kicks, and even lashes from the officials' whips, yet still unable to get a single mouthful of food. If it weren't for his good luck, relying on the skills he had honed as a mischievous child, killing several rats, he would probably have long been discarded in some desolate wilderness, becoming just another one of the countless starving corpses.

  Everyone says that a certain time-traveler went back to ancient times, showed off his skills, and became incredibly powerful and successful, with beauties surrounding him. But this time-traveler was miserable to the point of no return. Heaven was cruel enough to throw him into the Ming dynasty's Chongzhen 7th year, and even more so, threw him onto the desolate land of Shaanxi. As soon as he arrived, he faced the danger of freezing and starving to death. Xiao Tianjian sat under a withered tree, his mouth bitter, his stomach growling like drums. He had never experienced such hunger pangs before! Even after graduating from university and having a difficult job, he had never been so hungry that his stomach growled. Thinking about this inexplicable time-travel, he couldn't help but scold Heaven for being cruel, why did it throw him into this damned world?

  In this one month, he has experienced the warmth and coldness of human relationships in the world, witnessed the most miserable scenes, and before that, cannibalism was just a legend or a symbol to him. However, within this one-month period, he personally saw people roasting and eating a human leg in the wilderness outside the city.

  Many families are crying and shouting along the road, searching for their children. Their children accidentally walked out of the house, and as a result, there was only one outcome - they were gone. What is meant by "gone" is that they are really gone, not kidnapped or sold. When they got lost at that moment, their fate was already decided, and in the end, they became food for starving refugees.

  Hunger had been plaguing Xiao Tianjian all day, and apart from finding something to eat, he couldn't think about anything else. Wild vegetables, elm leaves, tree bark, and grass roots - things he wouldn't have thought of eating before - had become delicacies in his eyes. However, even these things had already been swept clean by the refugees, and basically everything that could be stuffed into their mouths had been eaten, leaving nothing for him to eat.

  When people are starving, they often feel drowsy, but Xiao Tianjian, even if he's so hungry that his eyes turn green and his legs go soft, doesn't dare to lie down and sleep. This is because some of the refugees have been staring at him with ill intentions, and he understands what they're thinking: his physique makes him a plump target in this world. If he falls asleep, who knows if he'll ever wake up again? The outcome might be that these starving refugees will chop him into eight pieces and throw him into a big pot to cook and eat.

  Such things had been performed countless times in front of Xiao Tianjian within a month, to the point where even he began to feel numb. He finally understood the meaning of "the world is like a furnace". Anyone who watches such tragedies repeat themselves every day will also become heartless.

  Before he came here, although his life was not very good, at least he had no worries about food and clothing. However, despite this, he still couldn't help but find fault in everything, occasionally criticizing current events, venting his frustrations, as if nothing satisfied him. To put it bluntly, he was a typical angry youth. But after arriving in this era, he realized that life in later generations was paradise, while here was hell. This made him extremely nostalgic for life in later generations.

  One night several months ago, he had just found a place to lie down in an abandoned village outside the city when he was surrounded by several ill-intentioned people. One of them took out a knife and directed the others to try to kill him, then use his flesh to fill their stomachs.

  It was perhaps the instinct to survive that caused Xiao Tianjian to burst out with his last potential, picking up a wooden stick from the ground and fighting these people like a madman. Relying on his height and weight, which far exceeded those of people in this era, as well as his agility and physical fitness honed from playing basketball, after he knocked down the leader with the stick, he snatched the knife from that person. The others immediately scattered and fled the abandoned village like birds and beasts, allowing Xiao Tianjian to narrowly escape being killed.

  Wrapped the knife in a piece of rag, Xiao Tianjian set out again, heading towards Fengxiangfu. When he was so hungry that he couldn't move anymore, he finally understood a truth: in such a world, all the nonsense about benevolence and morality were just empty talk. If one clung to such ideas, the only fate awaiting them would be to starve or freeze to death. In this chaotic world, only the strong could survive!

  He struggled to leave the borders of Qingyang Prefecture, and snatched a blackish vegetable bun from a beggar's hand. Relying on this vegetable bun, he managed to survive. As for the fate of that beggar, he couldn't care less. The ending was likely only one: after losing the vegetable bun, the beggar had no choice but to starve to death. However, in order to stay alive, Xiao Tianjian had temporarily thrown his conscience far away.

  During this time, he wasn't without thoughts of finding a career that would bring him peace and stability. Unfortunately, in such circumstances, as a modern person who was like an alien, someone who couldn't even explain where his home was, wanting to find a career in this chaotic world was a truly difficult thing.

  He can do calculations and manage accounts without any problems, but who would dare to let a person with unknown origins do such things? He is also capable of doing hard labor, but in these chaotic times, wealthy families have more than enough people to use, so no one needs someone like him. Now everywhere is plagued by bandits, and Shaanxi is the birthplace of the righteous army, the government is very strict in questioning strangers, a person with unknown identity like him would be killed if caught, so he doesn't even dare to enter the city, let alone look for work.

  So people like him, in this world, are neither too many nor too few. When he dies, probably no one will bury him. He can't think of any way to make a living except by relying on his physical strength to fight and scramble.

  What's more, he is clearer than anyone in this world that the world has been chaotic. If he remembers correctly, it won't be ten years since the Tartars entered the pass. What place in the world can be considered safe? It will eventually be occupied by the Tartars, and the Han people will become the objects of slaughter by the Manchu Tartars.

  Xiao Tianjian thought of the humiliating history of China under the rule of the Qing dynasty for over 200 years, and he was so depressed that he wanted to die. The vast China has always been a great power in the world, whether in technology or economy, it is the strongest country in the world. However, after the establishment of the Qing dynasty, each generation of Qing emperors was arrogant and closed off from the rest of the world, ignoring the progress of other countries. As a result, the vast China eventually became an object to be carved up by the powerful countries of the world.

  What's more, Xiao Tianjian knew a little about the atrocities committed by the Qing army after entering the pass, although it was not very clear. At least several tens of millions to hundreds of millions of Han people would become victims under the butcher knife of the Qing army. Just thinking about it made him feel depressed. Even if he could survive in this world, he would have to shave off half of his hair and leave a pigtail braid. Xiao Tianjian was already feeling suffocated. Now running away to be a traitor and surrender to the Tartars might be a way out, but could Xiao Tianjian do such a thing?

  Xiao Tianjian patted his heart and asked himself, as a Han person, he hated Han traitors, even if it meant death, he didn't want to do such things. So what about joining the army? At first glance, with his physique, he might be able to make a name for himself in the military and possibly change the course of history. However, after calming down, Xiao Tianjian re-examined this idea and immediately dismissed it. According to his understanding of history, the Ming dynasty's official army had extremely poor combat effectiveness, not to mention that the entire Ming court was already rotten to the core. After more than 200 years, the system had become rigid, making it almost hopeless to make a name for oneself or achieve anything within this system.

  So, after much thought, Xiao Tianjian finally decided that in this chaotic world, he would also gather a group of people and emulate the righteous armies of this era, making a big stir and achieving something, which is a hundred times better than dying in silence.

  The countryside has long been deserted, with a large number of refugees having no way to make a living due to the disasters and wars in recent years. They either had to leave their homes to beg for food elsewhere or gather in the mountains as bandits. Those who remained were either too weak from hunger to move and waited for death, or were wealthy landlords who recruited village braves to build forts and defend themselves. However, these wealthy landlords refused to use their stored grain to relieve the surrounding refugees. To protect their own grain and property, they built earth forts and recruited some household servants among their tenants to guard them. Generally, small groups of bandits could not do anything to them.

  Xiao Tianjian managed to grab a waist knife, but in such a desperate environment, he still had no way out. Along the way, he could only rely on snatching food from the already miserable refugees or using his specialty to catch a few mice to fill his stomach. On the luckiest occasion, he even used stones to hit a half-grown wild rabbit, and barely made it to the vicinity of Fengxiang Prefecture.

  However, when he got here, there was an additional black-faced man beside him, that is, Tie Tou.

  After taking good care of the horse, Tie Xiu attended to Xiao Tian Jian and lay down, then found a flat piece of land nearby, using the waist knife given by Xiao Tian Jian from that official soldier they killed as a pillow, and after closing his eyes, he recalled the scene from a month ago on that night.

  Tie Tou also surnamed Zhao, his family was in Qingyang Prefecture's Zhao Family Village. For generations, they were tenants of the Zhao Bencai family in Zhao Family Village. Originally, although they were poor, they could still make a living, at least eating enough wasn't a big problem. However, for several consecutive years, the weather didn't cooperate, and severe droughts left the land with almost no harvest. Zhao Bencai still demanded rent according to their agreement. Tie Tou's family couldn't afford to pay the rent, and even his younger sister was taken away by Zhao Bencai as a slave. Later, bandits passed through their hometown, and it seemed like they wouldn't survive. Tie Tou's father had no choice but to abandon their rented land, taking Tie Tou's mother, younger brother, and him to flee Zhao Family Village and become refugees.

  Tie Tou himself felt that he was a relatively lucky person, although his whole family had now been reduced to just him alone, but at least compared to those families who were completely wiped out, he had managed to leave behind a descendant for the Zhao family.

  And he was able to survive, thanks to Xiao Tianjian by his side. He clearly remembered that it was a moonless night, and he had not eaten anything for many days, lying weakly in a broken temple, with no sound around him. He saw an exceptionally tall figure walking into the temple, coldly scanning him with a glance.

  To this day, he still remembers the scene that night. The tall man with a waist knife entered the broken temple. He was very scared at the time, afraid of being killed by this person and then roasted to eat. However, he had no way to defend himself, as hunger had left him without any strength. He even felt a sense of relief, thinking that if this person really killed him, he would no longer have to suffer such a miserable life, and he could go to the afterlife to see his family.

  However, the person seemed to have no interest in him and walked to the other end of the broken temple and lay down by himself. Neither of them spoke, and the moonlight poured into the great hall through the broken roof.

  Tie Tou was so hungry that he didn't even have the strength to lift his head, and the only sign of life was the slight movement of his chest. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from one corner of the grand hall, and in the bright moonlight, Tie Tou saw a fat, ugly rat emerging from who-knows-where, crawling past him with an air of importance, sniffing around, and climbing onto the broken incense table.

  Tie Tou was eager to pounce on the big mouse, grab it and thus be able to live a few more days. Unfortunately, he had already lost all his strength and could only watch as the big mouse crawled past him, without being able to do anything about it.

  That big rat seemed to be mocking Tie Tou as it climbed onto the incense table, looking at Tie Tou with its small eyes, as if waiting for something.

  Tie Tou suddenly realized that this big rat was able to eat so fat, perhaps it was relying on eating the flesh of people who were starving to death like them. It seemed that today it had set its sights on itself, and after it died, it would be a great feast.

  He desperately closed his eyes, unwilling and too weak to think about it anymore, everything is up to fate! Maybe death will bring relief!

  But things didn't go in the direction he thought, when he opened his eyes again, suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that person at the other end of the hall move, only to see him swing his hand violently, and the large rat on the incense case suddenly let out a shrill squeak, rolled over and fell under the incense case, then convulsed violently, as if it had suffered a fatal blow.

  The man lying at the other end got up, walked over with big steps, grabbed the mouse with one hand and slammed it heavily to the ground. The big mouse instantly became quiet.

  Tie Tou stared at the person's actions with wide eyes, and when he heard a "click" sound, a small flame ignited in that person's hand. A bonfire rose up in the great hall, and Tie Tou almost shouted out loud (if he had any strength left). He had never seen anyone produce flames from their hands before, and he was about to think that this person in front of him was a god.

  Before long, Tie Tou smelled a familiar scent of roasted meat, which also made his long-dormant saliva fill his mouth again. Under the strong temptation of this smell, Tie Tou struggled to lift his head and saw that person roasting the big rat he had killed over a bonfire. The smell was coming from the skinned big rat. Even though it was just a rat, at this moment, it became a delicacy beyond his reach.

  However, the strong desire to survive made Ironhead, who was extremely hungry, unknowingly exert a force from somewhere in his body. He slowly flipped over and crawled inch by inch towards the tall, large man who had his back turned on him.

  Then, relying on the half-roasted and fragrant giant mouse, Tiedou finally crawled out of the gate of Yanluo Temple and returned to the world of humans, becoming Xiao Tianjian's first subordinate.

  In such a world, Xiao Tianjian could have ignored Tie Tou's plea for help when he himself didn't know if he would be able to eat the next day, but in the end, he still shared half of the mouse with Tie Tou and kept him alive.

  From the moment Tie Tou was handed half a mouse by Xiao Tian Jian, he burst into tears. As he swallowed the mouse in big mouthfuls, he made up his mind that no matter what happened in the future, as long as this person was willing to take him along, he would follow him forever. After all, this life was given by him, and he could use it however he wanted! Tie Tou didn't have anything to complain about anyway!

  But Tie Tou firmly believed that this person was a good man, and since good men do things right, following him would naturally be doing the right thing! Although Tie Tou was slightly older than Xiao Tian Jian, in his eyes, Xiao Tian Jian had long been his master.

  As soon as the sky brightened, Tie Tou, who had regained some strength after eating, followed Xiao Tianjian out of that broken temple where he was reborn and headed in the direction of Fengxiang Fu.

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